On a somewhat big island, there was a little village, children and adults alike could be seen running towards the center of the little village. The normally quiet and tranquil little village was bustling with excitement.
This little village was called River Village. The name of the village came from the river running through the middle of the village. From this point, it could easily be seen that the villagers of the river village were not that creative when it came to naming…
Among the children and adults running or hurrying towards the center of the village, a little girl could be seen moving towards the center of the village, while jumping up and down excitedly at the same time, she looked up at her parents walking at her side. She looked at the man and started talking. "Dad, is it really true that big sis won this year's demon beast hunt?"
Smiling lovably towards her parents, Sofie, the little girl, waited for her parents to answer her question. Sadly this only lasted for a little while, before she started bouncing around her parents again.
Sofie's dad, who was about to answer his daughters' earlier question, looked helplessly at the bouncing little girl circling around him and his wife.
Sofie felt a disturbance suddenly, panicked, she looked up only to see her dads smiling face. Sure enough, her dad decided to stop the little girl from jumping all over the place and looked down at her. One of his hands was firmly planted at her head and soon started gently patting her little head.
Feeling the hand gently patting her head, Sofie waited for her dad to speak, no longer jumping around everywhere.
Seeing that his daughter had finally stopped jumping around like some puppy seeking attention from its owner, Sofie's dad remembered her earlier question and removed his hand from her head, as he calmly answered his lovable daughters' question. "Yes, she won this year's demon beast hunt, she should come back home after she finished things up and got the reward for being the winner"
Sofie's dad looked slightly proud, as he talked about his eldest daughters' accomplishments. He was indeed proud of his eldest daughter, she was after all a cultivator and not just any cultivator, but a talented and strong one, who ended up winning the demon beast hunt!
Sofie also looked at her dad while feeling admiration towards her strong and kind big sister. Sofie's big sister would always take good care of her and play with her when she was smaller, but when she entered the Scorching Sun Sect, Sofie almost never saw her again.
Sofie did not really blame her big sister, because she was focused on cultivation and growing stronger. Sofie grew up listening to how amazing her big sister was and felt that she, as her little sister needed to be strong as well.
That was the reason why today was a special day for her, because today the Scorching Sun Sect would go around the villages of the scorching sun island and accept those who could become cultivators as disciples of the Scorching Sun Sect if they were willing to and could cultivate.
Sofie wanted to enter the Scorching Sun Sect, just like her big sister had. She also clearly remembered what she needed to join the sect other than being able to cultivate and that was being between the age of ten years and fifteen years old.
Sofie became ten years old last week and from what she knew humans could start cultivating after they reached the age of ten, before that, they could damage themselves and their future potential by training earlier.
Making her way through the crowd that formed, Sofie and her parents finally made it to the center of the little village.
Breaking through the crowd surrounding the center of the village, known as the gathering ground. Sofie saw a group of people with bright red robes with a beautiful pattern of a sun embroidered on the back. This was the robes worn by the disciples of the scorching sun sect!
Sofie excitedly looked on, as an elderly man from the scorching sun sect took a weird ball shaped object out of his robe. The ball that the elderly man took out was called a qi gathering orb. One the simplest ways to test whether someone could cultivate or not was to use this.
Sofie still remembered when her big sister took the test and how everyone was happy and excited that their little river village would have another cultivator. Sofie herself also remembered how proud her mom and dad looked when they heard their daughter was going to become a cultivator, she also wanted to make her mom and dad proud, but more importantly make her big sister proud of her!
*****
Time passed and soon the entire gathering ground of the little village was filled to the brim with people.
The elderly man from the scorching sun sect looked at the people from the village talking and pointing excitedly towards the people from the scorching sun sect. He slowly turned his elderly face towards the disciples from the sect, as he signaled for them to get ready to welcome the people who passed the test.
*Ahem*
Clearing his throat, the elderly man managed to silence the crowd. The villagers who had stopped talking now looked with anticipation towards the elderly man from the scorching sun sect. waiting for the elderly man to begin speaking.
Looking at the villagers quietly waiting on him to begin, the elderly man gave them a satisfied nod, before beginning to speak. "Villagers of the River Village! Today is, as most of you already know, the day where my scorching sun sect chooses new disciples, as we do once every five years! The young ones among you, who are between the age of ten and fifteen can make their way up to me in a moment. We will use the qi gathering orb to test whether you can absorb qi into your dantian an-"
Hearing the word dantian, most of the villagers gave off a questioning look and the elderly man seemed to have sensed it and after thinking things over for a short moment he began speaking again. "Instead of dantian, just think of it as being able to absorb qi, into the body being tested. Well, if there are no questions, please let the young ones make a line and come up here to be tested one at a time!"
The villagers formed a line soon after the elderly man from the scorching sun sect finished speaking and Sofie also left her parents side to join the line, excitedly waiting for her turn to be tested, hoping she would be able to absorb this so-called qi into her body and cultivate.
Sofie heard her sister talk about how qi was the most important thing for cultivating and getting stronger, so she already knew that being able to absorb qi was one of the most important things if she wanted to get strong like her big sister.
Standing in the line, Sofie saw the orb giving off light from time to time, as people walked away disappointed or walked towards a group of people from the scorching sun sect with excitement and a smile on their face.
Soon it was her turn and she looked up at the elderly man in front of her, just barely holding herself back form grabbing the orb in the elderly man's hand. The elderly man similarly looked at the adorable and excited little girl in front of him and couldn't stop himself from slightly smiling at the girl. "Just put your hand on the qi gathering orb, if you can cultivate, your body will absorb some of the qi inside the orb passively, making the orb light up."
Listing to what the elderly man said, Sofie both nervously and excitedly stretched out her little hand towards the qi gathering orb with a speed that took the elderly man by surprise. Soon, she hit the qi gathering orb in front of her and the ball in the elderly man's hand started to light up.
The elderly man let out a slight laugh seeing her unique behavior. Compared to other children calmly or nervously touching the qi gathering orb, she had almost ended up pushing the little ball out of his hands and onto the ground. The little girl indeed had quick hands, if his reaction had been a little slower…
*Chuckle*
"Congratulations little girl, you are able to absorb qi, meaning you can cultivate. Make your way over to the disciples from the sect if you want to join the scorching sun sect." The elderly man congratulated her on being able to become a cultivator and pointed towards a group of people wearing the robe from the scorching sun sect standing together with a few other people from her village.
"No need to worry you will be able to leave the sect from time to time to see your parents and you will also get some time to say farewell to them before leaving tomorrow." Thinking that she might be hesitating because of her family, the elderly man did not forget to reassure her that she would be able to see her parents, even after entering the sect.
Sofie, who ended up standing in the same place for some time blushed slightly and made her way towards the disciples from the scorching sun sect. The reason she ended up staying in place earlier, was not because she was worried about not being able to see her parents, but because she lost herself a little in the thought of finally being able to get strong like her big sister.
Thinking of all kind of things, Sofie soon made it to the place the disciples from the scorching sun sect stood. Still holding her head low, with a faint blush still present on her face.